Investment in Cancer Research andBiomedical Science Saves Lives, FuelsInnovation and Boosts the Economy

This Report celebrates the many ways we are making research
count for patients by turning scientific discoveries into better
approaches for preventing, detecting, diagnosing and treating
cancer. In the past 12 months alone, we can point to significant
progress: continued reduction in the overall cancer death rate;
forward strides in cancer prevention, including FDA approval of one
new drug for cancer prevention; critical advances in cancer
treatment, including eight new drugs for cancer treatment and four
new uses of previously approved drugs; and the beginnings of
integration of whole-genome sequencing in the clinic, which
promises to change the practice of oncology. In addition, scientists
at institutions in every single state across the Nation reported a
myriad of basic science discoveries that are revealing novel,
unanticipated insights that may well offer the keys to the next
major advances for cancer patients.

NIH Is the Catalyst forProgress Against Cancer

The NIH is one of the most important enterprises of this Nation. It is
responsible for seeking fundamental knowledge about the nature
and behavior of living systems and the application of that
knowledge enhances public health, lengthens life, reduces the
burden of illness and disability and saves lives. It does this by
supporting exceptional scientists and clinicians at more than
3,000 universities, medical schools, medical centers, teaching
hospitals, small businesses and research institutions across the
country. In fact, more than $25B (80%) of its $30B budget is
provided to these independent researches who are working in
communities in every state.

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Federal investments of $3.8 billion into
the 15-year Human Genome Project
generated as much as $796 billion,
raised personal income by $244 billion
and created as many as 310,000 jobs.

Core to the NIH’s mission and essential to the entire cancer
research ecosystem is the fundamental research that it supports.
While industry is willing to invest in late-stage research to bring
advances in scientific understanding to commercial realization, only
the federal government can fund the basic research that marks the
beginning of the pipeline (Fig. 22, p. 83). Industry-sponsored R&D
is rightfully performed with a near-term financial return in mind, but
at the NIH the returns are measured in lives both saved and
improved with benefits accruing over a longer time span.

Cancer research is primarily funded through the NCI, one of the 27
institutes and centers that make up the NIH. During its 40-year
history, NCI-funded research has driven significant advances in the
understanding of cancer and our ability to prevent, detect, diagnose
and treat it. In addition, NIH- and NCI-supported research has
spurred advances in health care that have significantly reduced the
burden of cancer and transformed the lives of a growing number of
cancer patients, the 13. 7 million cancer survivors in the U.S. alone.
This remarkable progress would not have been possible without the
long-standing, bipartisan commitment of our nation’s policymakers
to invest in research through the NIH (see Sidebar on The NIH),
p. 83).

While the NIH does not attempt to realize a financial return from the
research it funds, it does in fact generate significant financial

“I believe that for every dollar we spend in biomedical research through NIH, through the statesand through private organizations, we get a ten-fold return — and probably more than that. It’s thebeginning. It’s catalyst for much more. I think you will see much more of that in the future.”Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL)

Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Ed